Wellington post-production company in global collaboration

25 Jul 2016

A top Wellington post-production company has been selected by a Korean animation studio to work on a new preschool fantasy adventure series, Nori Roller Coaster Boy – with help from the Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency (WREDA).

Miramar’s POW!Post beat out international competition to exclusively provide the entire soundtrack – English voices, music and sound effects - for the animation, with an initial 52 episodes to be sold worldwide through Mondo TV of Italy.

Series creator Xris Sohn expects the show to be picked up by most English speaking countries, and hopes it will reach the global success of popular series such as Thomas the Tank Engine and Dora the Explorer. Nori will also be dubbed into Mandarin to screen in China where the animation is being created.

It’s the first deal of its kind for POW!Post founder John McKay, who as one of the country’s top sound designers has credits that read as a rollcall of New Zealand’s top films; The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, Footrot Flats and Quiet Earth.

Mr McKay co-founded POW!Post to help promote Wellington sound expertise (including sound effects, editing, musicians and voice actors) internationally. The intention is to create a hub for sound editing in Miramar. The hub will attract their own projects as well as contributing to big film productions by the likes of Sir Peter Jackson.

The aim is also to educate young talent, give them hands-on experience and learn the profession from Oscar-nominated sound talent at the top of their game.

WREDA worked alongside Mr McKay for more than two years, challenging and helping him to build a brand, protect his IP, build a team and business, make connections and build a pipeline of leads for productions. His focus has been on China.

WREDA business growth manager Dorien Vermaas said talks were underway with other parts of the industry to help them organise in a bid to win more work.

"There are all these people in Wellington's screen industry who are incredibly talented, all working as contractors, so their life is very cyclical and insecure."

Around 20 people in Wellington will work on Nori including up to 10 voice actors.

Mr McKay and series creator Xris Sohn signed the agreement at WREDA’s Manners St office on Friday, 22 July.